THE POINTS SEASON RESTARTS

September 3, 2016
Posted in LVKC
September 3, 2016 admin

THE POINTS SEASON RESTARTS

It’s been a week since Luca was last in the kart and he was excited to get back to racing for points. This would be his second race weekend and he was eager to continue his winning streak. It would take all his skill against a very competitive field to carry the win.

Saturday is practice day, with the drivers coming to terms with both their karts and the track to meet the challenges of competitive racing. Scheduled to start at 5:00pm, Luca was able to drive more than 120 laps over the course of the multiple practice sessions through to 10:00pm that evening. He pushed hard for all these sessions and only tired towards the end. The last session he spent 20 minutes on track – to say that Luca was exhausted was an understatement. He couldn’t even lift his arms to drink from his water bottle when he stepped out of the kart. He had raced hard for almost 70 miles. He collapsed asleep in my car even before we left the paddock for the journey home.

Next day, Luca continued where he left off, qualifying 1st in his class and 4th on the grid. Once again, he was all business, very focused and fast. Luca loves to race and each time he gets out of his kart, the Adrenalin rush is written all over his face with a huge smile and sparkling blue eyes. It’s contagious!

Race 1: Luca gets off to a flying start, taking the first turn in 2nd place. I really don’t like rolling starts, they make me so nervous as anything can happen when you have 10 drivers pushing as hard as they can to get the racing line. Luca tucks in behind the race leader and commands his position but he can’t hold on to it. By the end of the first lap, he has been overtaken by the 2 faster karts and now he has a very competitive race against kart 32 who races in his class. They are in a 14 lap duel, with less than 1 second separating them. Luca keeps his racing line and makes it impossible for the kart behind him to over take. One mistake and he would lose his place and most probably the race. He shows tremendous maturity, calculating his race to perfection. He, once again, is showing an instinct to make the right decision although he was pushed to the limit. He came in 1st in his class by less than 1/2 a second in front of kart 32!

Race 2: Luca stumbles at the start but takes the first turn ahead of kart 32. It’s another 14 lap duel with less than a second separating them. And it’s another racing demonstration by Luca. He comes in 1st, taking the points and the trophy on the night.

Very well done my #1 son. It turned out to be an exhausting 2 days of racing, with a lot of laps in the kart for Luca. He continues to outperform expectations, gaining the necessary experience to confirm his progress and solidify my assessment that we will need to upgrade his kart by the end of the year. Next race weekend September 17th & 18th.

We also learned that he is on the docket to be nominated for the Las Vegas Rookie of the Year award … GO LUCA!